Electronic communication is now the primary way most business employees communicate with one another. Text documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and electronic mail (e-mail) allow users to communicate and collaborate without the delay imposed by traditional paper-based communication. E-mails and other electronic communications are a significant source of documents used as evidence in administrative proceedings, litigations, and other court proceedings. Electronic discovery tools are used in the majority of court actions to locate potentially relevant documentation.
Electronic discovery tools often store documents used in litigation and other proceedings in a database. In order to retrieve results from the database, database queries and searches are used to extract sets of electronic documents and other materials that satisfy specified search criteria for further review and analysis.